What to do when your Samsung Android phone slows down. What to do if the Internet slows down on Android: on a phone or tablet
Have you noticed that a fresh Android, right out of the box or after flashing it, just flies? But some time passes, and no trace remains of the former speed. The system interface becomes thoughtful, the launch of programs slows down, and even things that should not slow down in principle manage to slow down.
Why does this happen and how to deal with it? Let's figure it out.
Operating system and application updates
Each device goes on sale with the then current version of the operating system, which most fully matches the characteristics of this gadget. If the manufacturer released a system update for your smartphone or tablet after some time, then you will undoubtedly acquire new functions, but it is not a fact that the device will work as fast.
The same goes for some applications. Developers are constantly focusing on new devices and optimizing their programs for their capabilities. Therefore, some programs run slower after updates than before.
How to fix it?
You must make your own choice between functionality and speed. If you do not have a very powerful device, then it makes sense to abandon new versions of the OS and applications. Sometimes switching to alternative, “lightweight” firmware can give good results.
Background processes
Have you installed three dozen programs after purchasing your device and are not going to stop? Do you think that if an application is not active, then it does not consume system resources?
This is not entirely true. Many installed programs are automatically loaded when the system starts, consuming processor resources and occupying the memory of your device. Separately, we need to remember the various live wallpapers and desktop widgets, most of which do absolutely nothing useful.
How to fix it?
Disable live wallpapers, desktop widgets and other bells and whistles that you don’t really need. Look at the list of background applications and stop those that you don't need. Remove programs you don't use. For those users who feel empowered to dive even deeper into the secrets of Android background processes, we recommend the Autostarts program.
Lack of free space
The built-in storage devices of your gadget are designed in such a way that, when almost completely full, their performance can slow down significantly. This is due to the methods used to record information to the internal flash memory of the device. Therefore, for the device to operate quickly, it is very important that at least a quarter of the internal memory remains free.
Probably all users of Android phones have encountered the fact that, a few weeks or months after purchase, their device began to slow down terribly. There is a noticeable delay when desktops begin to flip, and switching from one open application to another takes forever. And this despite the fact that at the time of purchase the phone worked at lightning speed. Faced with such a problem, users wonder why the Android phone is so slow and what to do to fix it?
The phone slows down due to processor overheating and throttling
Every year, Android devices are equipped with more and more powerful processors. On the one hand, this is good, because the requirements from applications are also increasing and the hardware must meet them, but on the other hand, this creates problems with cooling.
The fact is that modern processors for mobile devices get noticeably hot; you probably noticed this when running mobile games or other demanding programs. In some cases, the phone may become so hot that it becomes uncomfortable to hold. This is a result of processor heat dissipation.
To cool the processor, mobile phone manufacturers use various technical tricks. In particular, radiators and heat pipes are used that contact the processor through a thermal pad or thermal paste and transfer heat to the device body. Over time, thermal pads and thermal pastes dry out and become less effective. Under such conditions, the processor cooling system no longer works as it did when the device was new.
After reaching a certain temperature, the processor begins the so-called “throttling”, this is a processor protection mechanism that consists of reducing the clock frequency when a dangerous temperature is reached. In other words, the processor reduces its performance in order to cool down. As a result, the older your device, the more often its processor will throttle, reducing its performance and causing slowdowns in the Android interface and applications.
To avoid such problems, try not to overheat the processor. If your phone becomes noticeably hot, then you need to give it time to cool down. Close the program that is taxing your processor and put your phone away for a few minutes. This way you will extend the service life of thermal pads and thermal paste and prevent throttling from occurring.
If desired, you can install a special application for monitoring the temperature, for example, AIDA64 or CPU-Z.
Phone slows down due to installing updates
Another significant reason that leads to slowdowns on Android is updates to the operating system and applications. During the process of updates, new functions are added to the software and old errors are closed, as a result of which the software inevitably becomes “heavier,” although developers may claim the opposite.
For example, if you purchased a phone on Android 7.0, and then updated it to Android 8.0 or 9.0, then you will definitely notice that the device begins to work slower. The same thing happens with applications. At first, developers release a light and fast application that does not require many resources and does not slow down, but with each update it becomes heavier and heavier. Naturally, after updating one application, the phone will not immediately slow down, but you may have several dozen applications installed, and all of them are updated regularly.
Despite the problems described, updates must be installed. They add new features to programs and, more importantly, close discovered vulnerabilities. But, in some cases, you can refuse to install updates. For example, if you have an inexpensive phone and it is already not very fast.
In order to disable the installation of updates, you need to go to the Play Market store, find the desired application and click on the button with three dots.
After this, a menu will appear in which you can disable automatic updates for this application.
You can also disable automatic updates for all installed programs at once. To do this, you need to go to the Play Market store, open the side menu and go to “Settings”.
And in the menu that opens, select the “Never” option.
As for updates to the Android operating system itself, they are usually not installed automatically, and the user can always refuse to install them.
Brakes due to lack of space in internal memory
As you use your phone, something is constantly saved to its internal memory. This happens when installing applications, updating them, and also when updating the Android operating system itself. In addition, during operation, many programs save their temporary files into internal memory, in which the data they work with is cached. If there is no memory card or the phone is not configured correctly, user data (for example, photos, videos and music) will also be saved to the internal memory.
If this process is not controlled, then the built-in memory will sooner or later run out and Android will begin to slow down greatly. The fact is that the operating system and applications need free space to save their settings and data. If this place is not there, then every time you try to save something the program will freeze.
To avoid this, check from time to time whether there is enough space in your phone's internal memory. To do this, you need to open Android settings and go to the “Storage” section.
After this, a screen will open showing how much memory is occupied and how much is free. It will also indicate exactly what data is taking up space in the phone’s memory.
If you click on the “Free up space” button, Android will analyze the contents of the internal memory and show files that can be deleted.
Stuttering due to apps running in the background
Perhaps one of the main reasons for slowdowns on Android phones is applications running in the background. When installing applications from Google Play, users often think that these programs will simply lie on a flash drive, waiting for them to be launched. Therefore, most users install many different programs “just in case.”
In fact, many of the installed programs are constantly running in the background, even if the user has never opened them. It is not difficult to guess that each of these programs uses RAM and loads the processor. And if there are many such programs, then this will certainly lead to slowdowns.
To prevent this from happening, you need to regularly check the applications that are running in the background. In the latest versions of Android, you must first enable “Developer Mode” to do this. Therefore, open the Android settings, go to the “System - About phone” section and click on the build number until a message appears about enabling developer mode.
After this, you need to return to the main Android settings screen and go to the “System - For Developers - Running Applications” section. This will display a list of all the programs that are running in the background, along with the amount of RAM they were using.
Check out this list and the ones you don't need. It should be noted that in the “Running Applications” section you can stop the application. But this does not help, after a minute, all programs stopped in this way will work again. Therefore, unnecessary software must be completely removed.
If all else fails
In some cases, your Android phone may continue to slow down even though you have done everything described above. This may be due to virus infection or other software glitches. In such a situation, you should reset the phone to factory settings, and then configure it taking into account the recommendations described above.
In order to reset your phone to factory settings, you need to open Android settings, go to the “System - Reset settings” section and use the “Delete all data (factory reset)” option.
After this, a screen will appear warning you that all data will be deleted. To perform a reset, click on the “Delete phone settings” button.
After this, you need to wait until the reset procedure is completed. After which the phone can be configured from scratch (like new).
Having particularly power hungry apps running in the background can really cause a significant drop in performance and battery life. All sorts of widgets on the desktop that update news or weather, background synchronization and push notifications can prevent your gadget from sleeping peacefully or cause noticeable lags from time to time when working in another application. It is usually quite difficult to figure out which program is the cause.
Solution
To find out which apps are causing the problem, try using Wakelock Detector. After installing the program, charge your gadget to more than 90%, then disconnect the device from charging and let the program collect battery and processor usage statistics for 1-2 hours.
After that, open Wakelock Detector and you can see the statistics of all your running applications. The apps at the top of the list are the biggest consumers of the device's resources.
2. Background programs
If you have applications that cause a drop in Android performance, then you have the opportunity to delve into their settings and disable some of their functions or, for example, set a longer synchronization period, and so on. Another option is to freeze the application, which is close to deleting and is not suitable if you want to use the program occasionally.
However, there is a third way.
Solution
You can put the application into deep sleep. Sleeping programs will wake up and perform their functions as usual when you click on the icon. To use this method, try Greenify (required).
After installing the program, click the + button and you will be redirected to the page App Analyzer. For applications listed in sections Running in background And May slow down the device when… special attention needs to be paid as these are potential brake culprits. Select the ones you want to euthanize and click Accept in the top right corner to send them to sleep.
3. Not enough space
Some devices suffer from low storage space and begin to perform horribly once the device's storage capacity is 80% or more full. If your smartphone is showing these signs of slowdown, then now might be the time to do some spring cleaning. Keep in mind that the files you delete may in fact still be recoverable as long as you don't create empty files to replace them.
Solution
The famous one will help you clear your device of digital junk. The application has been downloaded from Google Play more than 500 million times, and therefore there is no reason to doubt its effectiveness.
After installing and launching the utility, you will see a program window, in the upper part of which information about the amount of free space on the device and SD card is displayed, and in the lower part there are the main functional buttons. With their help, you can remove everything unnecessary from your mobile phone literally in one tap.
However, recently users have been complaining about Clean Master being somewhat overloaded and heavy, and if you observe similar symptoms when using this application, then pay attention to
Every smartphone owner has more than once encountered a situation when his device suddenly starts working slowly or freezes completely.
Sometimes this goes away quickly without additional intervention, but more often the phone has to be rebooted. Today we will look at the 10 main reasons why a smartphone freezes.
Main memory full
When using the device intensively, including downloading applications, saving movies and photos, installing software and operating system updates, the main memory quickly fills up. At some point, its resource runs out, about which the smartphone warns the owner. Ignoring this situation makes it impossible for the phone to operate normally. For example, a new version of Android will not be able to install, it will be impossible to save the necessary files from the Internet, take a photo or shoot a video.
Hardware errors
Any smartphone is a complex device consisting of many electronic components: controllers, processor, motherboard, memory module, display and many more resistors, capacitors and sensors. Each of these elements has its own resource, and failure of any of them will lead to improper operation of the device and, possibly, its freezing.
If there were no external influences on the device before, and the latest updates were successful, the device should be sent for diagnostics to a service center.
Increased or decreased ambient temperature
The optimal operating temperature range for a smartphone is considered to be from 0 to 30 ºС. But in our latitudes it is difficult to maintain such a regime, so we often use the phone in severe frost or leave it under the scorching rays of the sun. Both situations have a detrimental effect not only on the condition of the battery, but also on the operation of the device.
A very hot smartphone, just like a frozen one, does not respond correctly to touching the display, and applications sometimes freeze. Obviously, it is necessary to provide the phone with an optimal temperature mode, but the main thing is to do this gradually. It is strictly not recommended to put it in the refrigerator when it is hot, or on a radiator when it is cold. The result will be the formation of condensation inside the case, and, as a result, failure of the electronic components.
Malicious software
Not all installed applications are completely safe. If this is a free program from Google Play, then at least a large amount of contextual advertising awaits us. APK installation files from other sources may pose a hidden threat to the device. And even if at first glance the program is harmless, this does not mean there is no danger, especially if it is distributed free of charge.
Viruses and Trojans can be embedded anywhere. When installing an application, they begin to constantly eat up traffic, sending our data to the developer, and also cause freezes in the operation of the smartphone until it loses its functionality. We recommend that you install antivirus programs on Android, which are available in large numbers on Google Play
Trying to get root rights
Some smartphone users want to customize Android to suit their individual needs. To do this, the device's factory firmware is changed to . It allows you to remove a number of system programs, increase the performance of the operating system, speed up the processor, and make many more settings that are essentially unnecessary for the average user.
The worst result may be getting a “brick” - this is what programmers call a smartphone that stops turning on after such actions. Often such attempts, due to incorrectly selected or incorrectly installed firmware, end with the smartphone constantly freezing. To avoid such situations and in the absence of relevant experience, we recommend suppressing the spirit of experimentation within yourself and using a smartphone on a stable factory version of Android.
Memory card
The smartphone may slow down due to an incorrectly selected memory card or its malfunction. Such storage media are divided into classes according to their own. There are situations when a budget smartphone freezes due to a high-speed memory card that is not suitable for it. And vice versa - modern models cannot correctly read and play older drives.
The Android operating system is the undisputed “king” of smartphones. According to the latest data from Kantar Media, Android continues to hold a huge market share with a solid lead over its competitors. Businesses and home users consider Android as the primary operating system for their devices.
Despite the success of this operating system, almost all of us sooner or later complain about the performance of our smartphone. Perhaps the battery doesn't last all day, or it's starting to run slowly, or its memory space is quickly filling up. Yes, perhaps we need to take a break and stop complaining about our smartphone, and try to understand the reasons: it would be nice to know that in most cases it is not the smartphones themselves that are to blame, and applications that are the main reasons for problems with the operation of smartphones.
Snapchat, Spotify...even Clean Master
You can check for yourself which applications are most detrimental to the performance of your device. Open menu Settings on your mobile device and look at the resource consumption of each application in the " Battery - Using the Battery", pay attention to the amount of RAM consumed by each application in the section Memory, or estimate the approximate amount of disk space consumed by each application in the section Internal Storage.
Keep in mind that there are some apps that will seriously impact your smartphone's performance. These include, for example, social networking applications such as Snapchat, this rising “star” of the millennium, or dating service Tinder. It’s also worth mentioning the music streaming app. Spotify, instant messaging service Line or Amazon Shopping, which conveniently allows you to make purchases, as well as other well-known services that can slow down your smartphone.
Google Sheets spreadsheet application, which many companies use to share and edit documents, is also among such applications. You might be surprised to know that Clean Master, which is designed to clean and optimize the performance of your smartphone, also consumes a lot of resources. Of course, other well-known applications that we can no longer live without consume huge amounts of battery or RAM, as is the case with Facebook, Instagram And Google Maps.
Some Tricks to Improve Productivity
There are some ways that can allow you to improve the speed of your Android smartphone. One of them is remove applications that you do not use, via menu Settings - Applications. You can also delete data that was downloaded by the application, or clear cache to speed up processes.